


Proud

by maiNuoire



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, Pride, the Providence Falconers are Stanley Cup Champions!, they're so in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 08:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maiNuoire/pseuds/maiNuoire
Summary: After winning the Cup and kissing his boyfriend on live TV, there's really only one thing Jack wants to do: march at Pride with his family, his team, and Bitty at his side.





	Proud

**Author's Note:**

> I got the original idea for this just after 4.1, and then didn’t write it because I’m awful. It turns out that the year The Falcs won the cup, the final game was just a few days before Pride, so I thought “I bet the team was going to march with You Can Play, BUT NOW! THEY JUST! WON THE CUP! AND JACK KISSED BITTY ON TV!”
> 
> So obviously, the whole SMH is there to march with them, and it’s a beautiful thing. It didn’t actually occur to me that we’d get to see this happen in the comic, but oh boy am I excited about it! We are so blessed!
> 
> Anywhoddle, I wrote this in two sittings, like, a week apart, because again, I’m awful. I hope the flow is okay, as it isn’t quite what I originally intended, but I’ve been assured it’s cute anyway, so enjoy!

“Hey Bits?” Jack asks into the crown of Bitty’s head, where it rests on his shoulder.

 

“Yeah, sugar?” Bitty hums sleepily, nuzzling into Jack’s chest and scratching his fingers lightly through Jack’s chest hair.

 

Jack chuckles and presses a kiss to Bitty’s forehead. “At the parade, I want you to walk with me. I know it might be uh, too much, which. I understand if you don’t want to, but I’d really like you with me at my first Pride. Or, y’know, my first where I’m out.”

 

“Oh, Jack,” Bitty starts, shuffling so his chin is resting on his hands on Jack’s chest, looking at his boyfriend with a soft, fond smile. “O’ course I’m gonna be with you. The whole gang is in our living room right now, waitin’ to march with y’all. We’re all so proud of you, sweetheart. Me especially.”

 

Jack can’t help but return the smile, and he runs his fingers through Bitty’s hair, already sleep-mussed despite the fact they’ve only been lying in bed for a half hour or so. “I know, bud. And I’m so glad our family is here to celebrate with us. But I meant, I wanted you to walk  _ with _ me. Next to me, holding my hand,” he laces his fingers through Bitty’s where his hand still rests on Jack’s chest, squeezing gently and feeling a rush of warmth all the way to his toes when Bitty squeezes back and places a kiss on Jack’s knuckles.

 

“Jack Zimmermann, you big silly, if you thought for one second that I was gonna kiss you on live television, and then a few days later hide in a crowd while at the dang Pride parade, I think you mighta missed too much sleep with all the celebratin’ we’ve been doing.”

 

Jack’s smile grows until he can feel the corners of his eyes crinkle, it’s a smile he’s sure somedays is only one he’s learned since Eric Bittle came into his life, and he can’t not kiss Bitty just then, quick and awkward and perfect.

 

“What was I thinking, eh?” Jack jokes, pulling Bitty in closer again. “It’s just that I know that it’s all still sorta… unsettled. With your parents.” Jack chooses his words carefully, wanting to be honest, but not willing to tarnish the little bubble of contentment that he and Bitty carry with them, not when it is especially warm and especially  _ necessary _ now. Bitty’s fingers still for a moment where they had resumed stroking Jack’s chest, but otherwise, he doesn’t tense, so Jack continues. “I don’t want you to uh, feel like you’re on display? There are going to be cameras and a lot of attention… More now, than there would have been before, since-”

 

“Since the aforementioned kiss on national television,” Bitty adds with a smirk. Jack chuckles lightly, grateful for Bitty’s good humor.

 

“And I really don’t want you to be afraid that it’s going to make things with them harder. But I really do want you there with me, bud. So, thank you.” Jack tightens his arms ever so slightly around Bitty, gratified when it only makes him burrow in closer to Jack.

“Honey, you’re so sweet to think of all that, but things with Mama and Coach aren’t gonna get better by me stuffing myself back in the closet. I’m… I’m not  _ happy _ about how things are with them just now, but they aren’t like I was scared they were gonna be either, so I think it’s just a matter of givin’ it time. And in the meantime,” Bitty says, rolling just enough in the circle of Jack’s arms that he can place a kiss right over Jack’s heart, “I think it’s time that me and you got to be out n’ proud somewhere other than our living room, don’t you?”

 

Jack huffs out a laugh, overcome with pride in the man in his arms. “ _ Tu es incroyable, _ ” Jack murmurs. 

 

“That one I know, sugar; what’d I do, hmm?” Bitty teases.

 

“I’m just so proud of you, Bits. I’m so proud, and I’m so glad that you’re here, with me. That I get to have you like this. You’re so strong,” Jack emphasizes the last word, hoping it gets through to Bitty, that he can see himself through Jack’s eyes for a moment.

 

Bitty pushes up onto his elbow, looking at Jack with a mix of fondness and confusion, but something in Jack’s expression must make sense, because the look melts into pure affection and a smile blooms across Bitty’s face. “Oh, honey. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you, wherever  _ here _ happens to be. And tomorrow, it happens to be holding your hand and showing the whole world how proud I am of you-- how proud I am to be  _ with _ you--at a parade surrounded by people who love us.”

 

Jack pulls him in for a kiss, and it’s just as perfect as all the other kisses they’ve shared, and when they pull apart, foreheads pressed together while they grin at each other for a long moment, Jack is absolutely certain that nothing is going to make tomorrow anything less than perfect.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please imagine a beautifully written scene in which the boys are surrounded by their teams/found family (and Bob & Alicia), marching hand in hand and absolutely beaming at each other and the world in general, and then weep with me, because we will get to see it in canon soon. Hashtag blessed.
> 
> Please let me know what you think, your kind words and kudos keep me motivated!  
> And come see me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/poetry-protest-pornography)!


End file.
